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<title>Making Peace by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973515">Making Peace</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni'>aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Honest Reflections [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dreamer Trilogy - Maggie Stiefvater, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canonical Character Death, Closure, F/F, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, Resolution, Trans, Trans Declan, Trans Female Character, it's Niall y'all, lesbian Jordeclan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:27:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>839</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973515</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Declan didn’t necessarily believe in revisiting death. The Lynches were already strange bedfellows with the idea and the practice. She clung to the tattered remains of her family, and pushed herself to remember how good she and her brothers were at defying it. And yet, this humid June morning found her parking the Volvo on a gravel road running through fields of green grass and tall headstones.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jordan/Declan Lynch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Honest Reflections [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796860</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Making Peace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For this entire week (and every day thereafter), I am assuming that all ends well in the Dreamer Trilogy and everyone survives. Written for third day of the <a href="https://trc-wlw-week.tumblr.com/">TRC wlw Week</a>, day 3's theme is "Life/Death".  I'm so excited about this week's themes, and I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Declan didn’t necessarily believe in revisiting death. The Lynches were already strange bedfellows with the idea and the practice. She clung to the tattered remains of her family, and pushed herself to remember how good she and her brothers were at defying it. And yet, this humid June morning found her parking the Volvo on a gravel road running through fields of green grass and tall headstones. In the passenger seat, Jordan quietly held a bouquet of flowers, bursting with blooms in soft pinks and blues, baby’s breath and fronds of green. While Declan stared out at the fields, she felt Jordan’s gaze locked on her. It was entirely possible Jordan wouldn’t fault her for putting the car back in gear and leaving without ever getting out. Declan turned off the ignition.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready when you are,” Jordan said quietly, and Declan read between the lines. </span>
  <em>
    <span>You don’t have to do this.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war,” Declan replied and opened the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan followed suit, and Declan waited til they were side by side to begin the trek over the grass to the headstone belonging to Niall Lynch. Its presence wasn’t terribly ostentatious considering its surroundings, but it called to Declan like a beacon, cross shaped with Celtic knotwork carved within. She remembered picking it out, more for Ronan’s and Matthew’s benefit than Niall’s or her own. She could have set his casket on fire and her father probably would have laughed and encouraged them to roast something over his corpse. She had him cremated instead, and that would have to be close enough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dad, Jordan. Jordan, Dad. You both probably would have gotten on like a house on fire,” Declan said to the stone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan smirked, handing over the flowers. “Should I be insulted by that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not really. He liked drinking and stories and dreams, likable if you didn’t share blood with him. He would have welcomed you with open arms.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Declan decided it wasn’t worth thinking too hard on if being in love with a dream would have finally earned some pride in Niall’s eyes. It didn’t matter what he thought of her anymore, and the shackles his disdain had placed on her were nearly worn away. Jordan was more than a dream to Declan. All the walls that had been put up between dream and reality, magic and mundane, they’d been torn down brick by brick until her hands bled. Things could have been so different without all the secrets, without the antagonizing favoritism. The flowers shook in her hands. Making peace really was more difficult; she felt the fight in her chest and the acid in her stomach, but she remained resolute in her  purpose here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“These are for Aurora.” She crouched down to lay them before the headstone, running her fingers over the etched letters that summarized Niall’s existence on this earth without capturing the real essence of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mother that had raised him didn’t have a headstone here, though Declan had been with Niall when the plots were purchased together. He’d known what happened to his dreams when he died, but not even he could have known just how differently things happened after he did. Even Declan hadn’t known until Ronan had gotten tangled up with other dreamers and people who killed dreamers. Aurora didn’t need a headstone to be remembered, she lived in the memories of the orphans Lynch, and she had treated Declan as if he were her own child. That was more than Declan could say for her father.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if she sensed the turmoil in Declan, Jordan moved in close, sliding her arm around Declan’s waist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You could have done better, but don’t worry. I’ve got it under control.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Declan wondered what Niall had expected. Success? Failure? To lose Ronan and Matthew? For Ronan to be the prodigal child and shut Declan out? It seemed people, including their father, hadn’t counted on how far a Lynch would go to save another Lynch. With all their secrets unspooled and blood spilled, Declan and Ronan were closer than ever, and Matthew continued to wash them all in his light. Gansey had come home, and Adam was building his own success at Harvard. Declan didn’t have to live a magic-less life anymore. She doubted any of that had been in Niall’s grand plan, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s really great,” Jordan added. “You could’ve set her up a bit better mate, but we’ll see this through.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Declan was still getting used to not having to do it alone. No more secrets among family, they faced everything together, as they should have done from the start. She put her arms over Jordan’s shoulders, tugging her close.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“See you on the other side. May the road rise up to meet you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taking a deep breath, Declan turned away from the headstone, and Jordan pivoted with her easily. Together they walked back to the car and headed back to the rest of their family.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As always, I can be found at my <a href="http://oldkingyounggod.tumblr.com">TRC blog</a> or my <a href="http://athoughtfulking.tumblr.com">spicy TRC blog</a>. Feel free to come say hello or make a request, if you like. Thank you for reading! </p>
<p>
  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23566651/chapters/56539102">Honest Reflections main story</a>
  <br/>
  <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/crimsonchimera/inspiration/hrdeclan/">HR/trans Declan aesthetic board</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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